SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

LECTURE # 4,5

Project Scope Management

 Contact Information
2

 Instructor: Engr. Shamila Nasreen

Assistant Professor
Department of Software Engineering
MUST

 Email: shamila.se@must.edu.pk
 Office hours:


◼ Wednesday,:11:00 am– 1:00pm

 Course Information
3

 Course Name: Software Project Management

Project Management
PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

| Collect Requirements : the process of defining and

documenting stakeholder's needs to meet the project
objectives
| Define Scope : the process of developing a detailed
description of the project and the product
| Create WBS: the process of subdividing the project
deliverables and the project work into smaller, more
manageable components
| Verify Scope : the process of formalizing acceptance
of the completed project deliverables
| Control Scope : the process of monitoring the status
of the project and product scope and managing
changes to the scope baseline
 PRODUCT SCOPE

| Product scope
y The features and functions that are to be included in
your products or service or result of the project.
y Completion is measured against the product
requirements.

| Project Scope
y The work that must be done to deliver the specified
product.
y Completion is measured against the project
management plan.
 Scope Management means:

• Processes required to ensure that project includes all the work

required, and only the work required, to complete the project.
• Defining the scope involves specifying the boundaries, deliverables,
objectives, constraints, and requirements of the project.
• Managing a project scope is primarily concerned with defining and
controlling what is and is not included in the project.
• Uncontrolled scope is called Scope creep.
• Scope creep refers to the change in a project's scope after the project
work has started.
• Typically, the scope expands by the addition of new features to an
already approved feature list.
• As a result, the project drifts away from its original purpose,
timeline, and budget.
 Scope Definition Example

• For an e-commerce website development project, the scope might

involve functionalities like user registration, product catalog,
shopping cart, payment gateway integration, and order
management system.
– These functionalities outline what the system should be able to do.
• In a marketing campaign project, the scope might explicitly state
exclusions, such as "This project does not include the production
of physical promotional materials (e.g., brochures, banners)."
– Constraints might also include limitations in terms of budget, time, or
resources.
• In a software development project, the scope might define
acceptance criteria for a feature by stating that it must work
across multiple browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari), on different
operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux), and perform
specific functions without errors.
 COLLECT REQUIREMENTS

• Collect requirements is the process of defining and

documenting stakeholders' needs to meet the project
objectives .
• Collecting requirements is defining and managing
customer expectations . Requirements become the
foundation of the WBS. Cost , Schedule, and quality
planning are all built upon these requirements
 Techniques for collecting Requirements

• Interviews
• Focused Groups
• Group Creativity Techniques
• Questionnaires &Surveys
• Observations
 Interviews

| Is a formal or informal approach to discover

information from stakeholders by talking to them
directly
| It is typically performed by asking prepared and
spontaneous questions and recording the responses .
| Interviews are often conducted one -on -one , but
may involve multiple interviewers and/or
interviewees.
| Interviewing experienced project participants,

stakeholders and subject matter experts can aid in

identifying and the defining the features and the
functions of the desired project deliverables .
 Focus Groups

|Focus groups bring together prequalified stakeholders

and the subject matter experts to learn about their
expectations and attitudes about a proposed product,
service, or result .
|A trained moderator guides the group through an
interactive discussion , designed to be more
conversational than a one-on-one interview

| A focus group is a way of observing a small group

of people talking about a particular issue.
| Focus groups involve guided discussions centered
around predefined topics or issues related to
project requirements
 Group Creativity Techniques
| Focus on idea generation, creativity, and problem-solving.
|Brainstorming : a technique used to generate and
collect multiple ideas related to the project and
product requirements free thinking → producing ideas

| Nominal Group Technique : enhances

brainstorming with a voting process used to rank
the most useful ideas for further brainstorming
or prioritization (Brainstorming + Voting)
| Idea/mind mapping : ideas created through
individual brainstorming are consolidated into a
single map to reflect commonality and differences
in understanding , generate new ideas
(Brainstorming +Map).
identifying relationships → organising ideas
 Questionnaires and Surveys

| Questionnaires and surveys are written sets of

questions designed to quickly accumulate
information from a wide number of respondents .

| Interview questions were prepared for qualitative analysis whereas,

questionnaire is for quantitative (statistical) analysis.

| Interview is for small number of respondents

whereas, questionnaire is for large number of respondents.
 Observations

| Observations provide a direct way of viewing

individuals in their environment and how they
perform their jobs or tasks and carry out processes

|It is particularly helpful for detailed processes when

the people that use the product have difficulty or are
reluctant to articulate their requirements
|Observation ( also called "job shadowing") is usually
done externally by the observer viewing the user
performing his or her job .
| particularly beneficial in scenarios where direct observation
of users, workflows, or environments can provide valuable
insights into the
needs, behaviors, and challenges faced by stakeholders.
 Observations

1.Business Process Analysis:

• Observing workflows and business processes within an
organization allows for a detailed understanding of how
tasks are performed, identifying bottlenecks,
inefficiencies, and opportunities for optimization.
2.Field Studies for Product Development:
• Observing users in their natural environment (e.g., in
healthcare, manufacturing, or retail settings) helps in
understanding their needs, behaviors, and challenges,
aiding in the design of tailored solutions.
Create Work Breakdown Structures
• The WBS is a deliverables-orientated decomposition
of the work to be executed by project team in a
project.

• Is a depiction of the project (model) in terms of the discrete

pieces of work needed to complete the project and the
ordering of those pieces of work.
• Performed by software project team.
• Focuses on the tasks required to produce the artifacts that
are to be delivered.

• A Work Breakdown Structure breaks the project scope into

inter-related discrete tasks using a hierarchical tree structure.
 Why break up?
• Improve work management
– Understand resource and time constraints
– Set milestones for progress
• See alternative sequencing of components of
work
 WBS
• Breaks the project scope Clear starts
– Inter-related task and ends
– Discrete tasks
• Hierarchical tree structure
– Lower level tasks inherit the relationships among
higher level tasks
 Hierarchy of Activities
• The first level in a work breakdown is called the root of the
tree and is usually the name of the project.

Level 1: The root of

the tree is the A
project name
 Hierarchy of Activities
• The level 2 tasks are tasks that compromise the entire components of the
project
• An arrow from one task to another shows that the preceding task must be
done before the subsequent task is started
EHR implementation
A

Level 2:
Components of the B C D
entire project
 Hierarchy of Activities
•
A

Purchase
B C D Train users
system
Configure
Level 3: Each level 2 system
tasks is broken into E F
its subcomponents
Hierarchy of Activities
 Approaches to Developing Work
Breakdown
• Guidelines
– Organizations have developed guidelines of how work is to be
subdivided into various components
• Analogy
• Top Down
• Bottom Up
• Brainstorming
• Mind mapping
• Group decision Making Techniques
 Approaches to Developing Work
Breakdown
• Guidelines
• Analogy
– Work breakdown can also follow norms of how others have done similar
activities
– Previous projects within and outside of the organization are reviewed and
tasks listed in these projects are used as a starting point to organize the
project’s work.
• Top Down
• Bottom Up
• Brainstorming
• Mind mapping
• Group decision Making Techniques
 Approaches to Developing Work
Breakdown
• Guidelines
• Analogy
• Top Down
• Specify all activities required for the entire project to
be finished
• Determine all task required to complete each activity
• Continue in this way until you have adequately detailed
your project.
• Bottom Up
• Brainstorming
• Mind mapping
• Group decision Making Techniques
 Approaches to Developing Work
Breakdown
• Guidelines
• Analogy
• Top Down
• Bottom Up
– Identify specific tasks or work packages first and then
aggregate them to form higher-level deliverables.
– This approach can be useful when detailed tasks are
known beforehand.
• Brainstorming
• Mind mapping
• Group decision Making Techniques
 Approaches to Developing Work
Breakdown
• Guidelines
• Analogy
• Top Down
• Brainstorming
– On a single list, write any activities you think will have to be
performed for your project.
– Brainstorming means you
• Don’t worry about overlap or level of detail
• Don’t discuss activity wordings or other details
• Don’t make any judgments
– Then study the list and group activities into a few major
categories with common characteristics.

• Mind mapping
• Group decision Making Techniques
 Approaches to Developing Work
Breakdown
• Guidelines
• Analogy
• Top Down
• Brainstorming
• Mind mapping
– Mind mapping is a graphical technique of taking
notes and visualizing thoughts using a radiant
structure.
• Group decision Making Techniques
 Approaches to Developing Work
Breakdown
Group decision Making Techniques
There are multiple methods of reaching a group decision :
• Unanimity :everyone agrees on a single course of action
• Majority : support from more than 50% of the members of the group
• Plurality : the largest block in a group decides even if a majority is not achieved
– not necessarily obtain more than 50% of the total votes.
– Majority is a more decisive victory, indicating broader support, while plurality signifies having the
most support among the available options but not necessarily a majority.

• Dictatorship : one individual makes the decision for the group

 Approaches to Developing Work
Breakdown
• Use Tools
– Utilize software tools or applications specifically
designed for creating WBS diagrams:
• Microsoft Project, WBS Chart Pro, or other project
management software.
• These tools often provide templates and features to
facilitate the WBS creation process.
 Definitions: Functions, Activities and
Tasks
• A Project has a duration and consists of functions, activities and tasks
• Definition (Project) Function: An activity or set of activities that span the
duration of the project
• In a software development project, functions could include areas like "System Architecture,"
"User Interface Design," or "Quality Assurance.
 Activities
• Major unit of work
with precise dates

• Consists of smaller
activities or tasks

• Under the "User Interface Design" function, activities could include

"Wireframing," "Prototyping," or "Graphic Design."
 Tasks

Under the "Wireframing" activity, tasks might involve "Create

Homepage Mockup," "Design Navigation Menu," or "Develop Interface
Elements."
 Tasks
• The description of a task is done in a Work package
– Name, description of work to be done
– Preconditions for starting, duration, required resources
• Other Work packages that need to be completed before this task
can be started.
– Work product to be produced, acceptance criteria for it
– Risk involved
• Completion criteria
– Includes the acceptance criteria for the work products
(deliverables) produced by the task.
Displaying Work Breakdown Structures
• Organization-chart format:
– Effectively portrays an overview of your project and
the hierarchical relationships of different activities and
tasks.
• Outline format
– Sub activities and tasks are indented
• Bubble format
– The bubble in the center represents your project
– Lines from the center bubble lead to activities
– Lines from activities lead to tasks
Displaying Work Breakdown Structures
 Best format for displaying WBS?
• Org-chart format:
– Often good for a “bird view” of the project (executive summaries,...)
– Less effective for displaying large numbers of activities
• Outline format:
– Easier to read and understand if WBS contains many activities
• Bubble format:
– Effective for supporting the brainstorming process
– Not so good for displaying work breakdown structures to audiences who are
not familiar with the project.
– Use bubble format to develop the WBS, then turn it into Org-Chart or outline
format.
• In large projects:
– Use a combination of org-chart and outline formats:
• Display activities in org-chart format,
• Display sub activities and tasks in outline format.
 WBS: Breadth .vs. Depth
• Focus on breadth
– the project manager has a choice of making tasks
cover the breadth of different activities.
– focus on breadth as including a comprehensive set
of activities is important.

• Let details emerge

– Progressive elaboration
– Creativity
WBS: Procedure
Numbering Convention: Example

1.1
 100% RULE

| Each WBS levels represents a breakdown of WBS

level above.
| If the lowest levels are rolled up to the higher
levels, the total must represents the total work of
the project. This is called 100% rule.
| This ensures that no work is left out or extra
work is added.
CREATE WBS- Example
 ROLLING WAVE PLAN

| Detailed decomposition of work may not be

possible for works that will be completed in the
future since project team is not fully aware of
details of work. Team waits for the more details
and only work in the near future is decomposed.
This is called Rolling Wave Planning

|Work in the near term is elaborated in more

detail than work to performed in the future.
 Work Breakdown Is Not …
• We need to clarify some common mistakes
• A goal is not a task or activity.
– Goals typically do not have a start or end
– activities are tasks that we should engage in to
accomplish the goal
• Task is Not a process
– Continuous quality improvement is a process. Plan,
Do, check and Act cycles are a set of tasks within this
process. It is ok to use PDCA as four tasks but it is not
ok to use continuous quality improvement as a task.
 Work Breakdown Is Not
• WBS is Not an exhaustive list of work
– work breakdown structures are comprehensive
classification of project scope.
• WBS is Not an organization structure
– It does not show formal relationships between
supervisors and subordinates.
– It is not organized based on who reports to
whom.
 Work Breakdown Is Not
• Not to be changed often
– unless there is a change in scope of work
– unless the procedures for managing change in
scope are followed
– A small change in work breakdown can have a
large impact on the project’s success.
 Heuristics for developing high quality
WBS
• Involve the people who will be doing the work in the development of the
WBS
– In particular involve the developers
• Review and include information from work breakdown structures that were
developed for similar projects
– Use a project template if possible
• Use more than one WBS approach
• Make assumptions regarding uncertain activities
– Identify risky activities
– These are often the activities that whose times are hard to estimate
• Keep your current work breakdown structure current
• Easy to understand
• Preserve the most important relationships among the tasks
 WBS DICTIONARY
• The WBS dictionary is where work component descriptions are documented.
• WBS dictionary should include the following elements for each
component of the WBS.
y Code of accounts identifier
y Statement of work, which describes the work of the component
y Organization responsible for completing the component
y List of Schedule Milestones
y Associated Schedule Activities
y Resources required
y Cost estimates
y Quality requirements
y Acceptance criteria

y Technical references
 VERIFY SCOPE

• Scope Verification is the process of the project customer

accepting the project deliverables.
• Scope verification is ensuring that the deliverables is concerned
with the acceptance of the work.
• Scope verification is concerned with acceptance of deliverables,
but Quality control is concerned with meeting the quality
requirements specified.
• Quality control is normally performed prior to scope verification
but both may be performed in parallel.
VERIFY SCOPE : TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

1. Inspection
– To complete scope verification, the work must be
inspected.
– This may require measuring, examining, and testing
the product to prove it meets customer requirements.
– Inspection usually involves the project manager and
customer inspecting the project work for verification,
which in turn results in acceptance.
– Depending on the industry, inspection may also be
known as:
• Reviews, Product Reviews, Audits & Walkthrough
VERIFY SCOPE : TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

1. Inspection vs. Audit

– Inspection involves measuring, examining, and
testing the product to prove it meets requirements.
– Audit is normally an independent review (normally
third party) to determine whether a process comply
with policies and procedures.
– Inspection need measurements
 VERIFY SCOPE : Outputs

1. Accepted Deliverables: This is a formal process that

requires signed documentation of the acceptance by
the sponsor or customer.
2. Change Requests : those completed deliverables that
have not been accepted are documented , along with
the reasons for non acceptance .
• Those deliverables may require a change request for defect
repair .
3. Project Document Updates : Project documents that
may be updated include any documents that define
the product or report status on product completion
 CONTROL SCOPE
– Monitor the status of project and product scope and
manages any changes to scope baseline.

– Is part of integrative change control

 CONTROL SCOPE: Tools & Techniques
1. Variance Analysis :
– Project performance measurements are used to assess the
magnitude of variation from the original scope baseline .
– Important aspects of the project scope control include
determining the cause and the degree of variance relative to the
scope baseline
– Deciding whether corrective or preventive action is required.
 CONTROL SCOPE: Tools & Techniques
1. Variance Analysis :
– Project performance measurements are used to assess the magnitude
of variation from the original scope baseline .
– Important aspects of the project scope control include
determining the cause and the degree of variance relative to the
scope baseline.
• Any discrepancies or variances are identified, quantified, and analyzed to understand their causes
and impacts.
– Deciding whether corrective or preventive action is required.
– Based on the variance analysis, corrective actions can be initiated.
• This may include addressing scope changes formally through a change control process,
revising the project plan, reallocating resources, or managing stakeholder
expectations.
– Only approved changes that align with project objectives,
constraints, and requirements should be incorporated into
the project scope.